British ArmyChieftain tanks of the Berlin armoured squadron, taking part in the Allied Forces Day parade in June 1989
The Berlin Infantry Brigade was formed in October 1953 out of the force called "Area Troops Berlin" and consisted of some 3,100 men in three infantry battalions, an armoured squadron, and a number of support units. Its shoulder sleeve insignia was a red circle over a black background with the word Berlin in red on a black background running around the top.[1] It was not initially part of the British Army of the Rhine despite being based in Germany.[2] However, by the mid-1980s, the brigade is recorded to have become part of the BAOR, being its second major component after I (BR) Corps.[3]
In 1946 the military postal address for Berlin based British troops was 'BAOR 2' but when the BFPO indication number was introduced in 1951 to was changed to 'BFPO 45' and remained its address until the British troops were withdrawn from Berlin in 1994.[4]
The three infantry battalions and armoured squadron assigned to Berlin were rotated regularly; the single armoured squadron was detached from an armoured regiment assigned to I (BR) Corps. The infantry battalions were rotated every two years.[5][6] All other units were permanently based in Berlin.
Structure
At the time when the Berlin Wall fell (9 November 1989), the operational structure of the British forces in Berlin was as follows:
Under the treaties that enabled the German reunification, all non-German military forces were required to leave Berlin. Therefore the brigade was reduced to two battalions in 1992, then further reduced in 1993 to a single battalion. Finally Berlin Infantry Brigade was officially disbanded in September 1994 and its troops moved to the United Kingdom or British Forces Germany garrisons.[7]
Different names of the Berlin Infantry Brigade from 1945–1994:[8]
Month, Year
Name
November 1946 -
British Troops Berlin
February 1949 -
Area Troops Berlin
October 1953 -
Berlin Infantry Brigade Group
December 1963 -
Berlin Infantry Brigade
April 1977 -
Berlin Field Force
January 1981 – September 1994
Berlin Infantry Brigade
References
^"Berlin Brigade". Western-allies-berlin.com. 22 June 2005. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
^David C. Isby & Charles Kamps Jr, Armies of NATO's Central Front, Jane's, 1985, p.303
^SC Fenwick (2021). Nothing succeeds like an address - BFPO numbers. Winter 2021. The Cleft Stick, Newsletter of the Defence Postal & Courier Officers' Association
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